Nocturna
by RareGarynite
Summary: What do you want more than anything in the world? What would you stop at nothing to get? For Cole, it's the chance at fame. For Malon, it's the chance to be her own person. Join these two on an adventure like no other, through the new Nocturna region, as they uncover a plot that threatens the very foundation of both their hopes and dreams. T for mild language and graphics.
1. Cole's Awakening

It's raining. Again.

Good.

My home is near the center of our village, where a fountain flows in the town square, tossing luminescent water brightly into the air. It is the only thing that makes our town special. After all, why would anyone want to come to a dead, isolated village made entirely out of the same, dusty tan bricks high up in the mountains?

Exactly. They wouldn't. Which is why the only outsiders we ever get in the town are those passing through on their way inland from the port that's on the other side of the mountain. Nobody ever stays for long. It's better that way. It's best not to get too attached to the people here, or the place itself. Once it's too late, you'll realize that no one here really has a heart, or cares much about anything. It's just a connector town. That's all that this town, or I, will ever be. A stepping stone to something, or someone, greater.

I turn from the window and try to focus on finishing my packing. I won't need a lot: dress clothes, pajamas, and two sets of regular traveling clothes, as well as toiletries and other assorted objects that I've decided to bring with me for one reason or another. I try to limit the amount of items I pack, since I don't plan on stopping back home unless absolutely necessary.

Have you ever been on a journey? I hear it's exciting, unexplainable, and life-altering. I need all three of those things right now, so guess what I'm about to do?

Wow, how'd you know?!

When my bag is packed, I shoulder it and head downstairs, my shoes squeaking against the thin wooden boards of the staircase that my mother has never bothered to fix up in all her years of remodeling and cleaning.

Said mother is waiting for me at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee in her hands and an unread newspaper laying in front of her. She eyes me, and her hands clutch the mug a little tighter.

"Did you wash your face and brush your teeth?" she asks suspiciously, eyes flicking up to my slightly messy, uncombed hair.

"Yes," I respond, brushing past her reproachful gaze. Yet another reason why I can't wait to leave this house: people will actually believe me when I say something instead of assuming that because I'm a teenager, or because I'm me, everything I say is somehow false.

My mother turns to face me as I busy myself at the sink, trying to come up with a way to leave a quickly as possible without completely shattering her already shredded heart.

"So you're really going then?" she asks me, and I nod, still facing away from her.

I can only see the blank wall above the sink, but I know that she's fighting back tears.

"I'll miss you, you know." With this comes another round of little sniffs and quick eye rubs.

I turn to face her, and don't respond, mostly because I am itching to get onto the Mono-Rail. I do my best to look sad that I'll be leaving her for who-knows-how-long and don't plan on coming back for a solid five years minimum.

"You'll keep in touch, right? Don't be like Charlie." She looks at me hopefully. She really thinks I like this place, doesn't she?

Charlie is my oldest brother. He has a tendency to not respond to people's attempts at contact, partially because he's so busy with college, but partially because he dislikes our mother as much as I do.

"Don't worry Mom. I'll be fine." I shift uncomfortably, eyeing the door.

She gives a huge sniff. "I know, honey," she starts, and then bursts into tears, embracing me in a choking hug and bawling into my shoulder.

I awkwardly pat her on the back, and then pull back before she gets any worse. She sits herself down at the table and starts crying even harder into her tissues.

I take this as a cue to leave.

"Well, bye," I say to her, which makes her cry even harder, but I step outside before she can get any worse, or I can hear any of her pathetic sniveling.

The air outside is crisp and refreshing, but I barely note it. The only thing that is on my mind is getting away from this lethargic town and family that has trapped me for fifteen years.

My life has been one dull event after another, and this journey will be the end of that.

My name is Cole Escapade, and this is my story.

* * *

I'm not going to talk about my family any more. I don't like my mom, my dad died, Charlie hasn't talked to me in three years, and my other brother is…renegade. That's all you need to know, and that's all I'm telling you. Kapeesh? End of story.

The Mono-Rail station is just a few blocks from my house. The tracks run like veins throughout the province of Camelot, where I live, which makes transportation easy, except that the fee to ride is crazy expensive. As is most everything else in Nocturna, the largest region in the world.

Nocturna is different from other regions. Most notable of these differences is that there are four provinces and a capital city, since it's so big. They each have gyms and contests in them and each of them has a different language, culture, government, and specialties. Each contributes something different for the whole region to share, whether it's electricity in Galapagos, technology and science in Camelot, cultural heritage and activities in Hyrule, education in Hogwarts, or a central government in The Capitol, Rivendell.

Anyway, I'm boring myself with details and I sound like a textbook.

I reach the Mono-Rail station in plenty of time. I really wasn't concerned about catching the rail; it was more that I just wanted to get away from the house before my mother decided she wanted to have a photoshoot with the two of us to have something to remember me by. Goodness knows I took everything I own from that house. I'm not coming back, and I think she knows that.

The train pulls into the station at seven forty. It is a high-speed train that is reserved for people going to work in other provinces, or on the other side of the one they're in, and kids going to school. The high-speed Mono-Rails are a lot more expensive to maintain and to build, so there are less of them. They do go extremely fast though, and they can transport people a hundred fifty miles in ten minutes. They're also free, since Nocturna wants to encourage people to go to school and to work. That's also part of the reason why the regular Mono-Rails cost so much.

Damn, I sound like a textbook again.

I am going to Professor Redwood's. Professor Redwood is the leading pokémon professor in the region. His focus is studying pokémon types. He is also the professor that gives out starter pokémon to fifteen-year-olds who are beginning their journeys. His lab is based in Rivendell, so that is where I have to head if I want to begin my journey, but I don't expect to stay there for very long. I know exactly where I want to head as soon as I have my starters.

When the Mono-Rail pulls into Shire Station in eastern Rivendell, I am the first person off the train. I signed up for the 8:10 time slot at the lab, which is the second earliest available. Some girl signed up for the first one before me, which I'm still surprised at. I signed up for a time slot as soon as I could, which makes me wonder how badly she wants to start her journey.

The Redwood Laboratory is quite a ways from the station, so I take a gondola there. It is made of polished black wood that has a chipping paint job. Most of the gondolas I see passing by me are a little rundown. I guess that gondola maintenance isn't a priority for Rivendell.

He drops me off in front of two huge wrought-iron gates that are locked together with a padlock in the shape of a pokéball that is divided into eighteen sections. There are three people standing in front of the gate. Two of them are talking to each other in the friendly way that complete strangers do when they first meet each other. The other one, a girl with bright red hair that I slightly recognize, is leaning against a tree, playing her 3DS with a sullen expression.

Even though she seems like she doesn't want to talk to anyone, I approach her and smile. "Hi," I start, but I am immediately cut off by her screaming.

At first, I think that she is screaming at me, but then I realize that her face is glued to the screen of her device.

She stops screaming and makes a choking sound, then collapses down against the tree, sobbing and clutching the 3DS to her heart.

The two other students glance our way. I give them a small, forced smile.

"Umm, are you okay?" I ask, trying to look over the screen and see what she is playing.

She yelps and snaps shut the screen. "Don't you dare..." she growls, then buries her head in her hands and screams again.

At this point, I am thoroughly creeped out, so I start to edge away.

The girl looks up at me one last time, her eyes a burning green. They seem to stare right into my thoughts. "JUST GIVE HIM BACK HIS SOUL." Then she fiddles for a second with the controls, pops out the cartridge and places both the game and the system into her bag, clasping it shut. She then looks up and observes her surroundings politely, as if nothing had happened.

I am kind of scared right now.

Fortunately, I am spared having to react to her when the gates opening on their own. The two other students and I watch as they silently glide back, then clang to a stop all by themselves.

"Cassandra Garynite."

A static-y voice crackles through a speakerphone on the brick wall near the gates.

The ginger girl nods at me, then does a sort of skip-walk through the gates. As soon as she has passed through them, they clang shut behind her, leaving the three of us to watch as she walks down the long dirt path that leads straight to the Redwood Research Laboratory.

It is another ten minutes before the gates silently open again, and the speakerphone crackles on once more.

"Cole Escapade."

I take a deep breath and start down the path, hearing the gate latch shut behind me. The garden that the path winds through is very pretty up close, and the sweet aroma that the flowers give off wafts lazily through the air. Bellossom play near a pond, and sunflora bask in a flower bed, taking in the morning light. Everything is alive and new, but it doesn't really make me feel any better. I'll only be happy once I'm on the train out of Rivendell, and on my way to...well, we'll get to that when we get to that.

I step inside the lab, and am immediately met by a blast of air-conditioning and a blond woman in a pressed blue dress. She is holding a tablet and has an earpiece in her ear, chattering rapidly to whoever is on the other end.

"...and make sure that the sensors are calibrated. Sylveon is very sensitive." She turns to me. "Hello, you must be Cole. Right this way!" Her high-heels click smartly as she leads me down a clean white hallway with no adornments and white panels that layer the walls. At the end of the hallway, she swipes a card through a reader next to a plain white door and taps in a pin code. The door buzzes, and she pulls it open, leading me into a large room that is broken into sections with frosted glass walls that create large cubicles of sort. The woman leads me through the maze of offices and labs, swipes her card through another reader, and opens a second door for me, leading into a small office.

The walls, floor, and ceiling are all the same bright white panels as the hallways. An extremely messy desk is positioned in the far corner of the room, an old Macintosh computer resting on the old wood. In the middle of the room is a hexagonal dais with pulsing blue lines that wrap around the perimeter, forming a rough pokéball. The rest of the room is filled with stacks of paper, folders, and books. A man with frazzled bright red hair is shuffling through papers on his desk, and jumps when the lady opens the door.

"Professor Redwood, the second student here for a starter. I have sent notes concerning his selection process to your personal email." She taps her tablet. "They should be read before you start. Good luck!" The lady smiles at me, then walks out of the room and closes the door behind her.

Professor Redwood gives me a quick smile, then steps over to the computer and clicks around for a moment. I jump as a printer on a stack of books that I didn't notice before beeps to life and spits out a single sheet of paper. The professor snatches up the sheet and reads it over quickly, pausing for a moment at the last line. Then he tosses it haphazardly onto a random pile of paper and turns to me, speaking for the first time.

"Hey Cole. I'm Professor Redwood." The Professor reaches over the dais and shakes my hand. "Here's how this process is going to work. As you know, on the last day of school you took a test. That test determined the top three pokémon that would best fit your personality. You will now be able to choose a starter pokémon out of the three results. However, you are a special case. The email I just read said that you were to be given the option of four pokémon, and you are allowed pick two of those instead of one. This is quite an anomaly, so I would pick wisely if I were you. Here are your four options."

The middle of the hexagonal dais pops open at Redwood's touch and deposits a pokéball on the table. I wonder briefly why I am allowed to pick two instead of one, but excitement gets the better of me, and I snatch up the pokéball, quickly releasing it.

"Snubbull! Snub, snub!"

The pink fairy pokémon growls menacingly at me as it appears in a flash of white light. I reach down and pat its head, and to my relief, it breaks into a smile and nuzzles my hand.

I look the little pokémon up and down. It's cute, but I don't want to make a decision yet. "What's the next option?"I ask, looking back up.

Redwood smirks a little, and taps the side of the dais. A second pokéball shoots up and lands on the table.

I pick up the sphere, and out flashes a mareep.

It stares at me with huge, complacent eyes. The blue bulb on its tail droops a little bit, then the mareep turns its back on me and starts waddling around the room in search of food.

I bit my lip, considering my options so far, then reach over and tap the side of the dais. The third pokéball appears. I toss it into the air.

"Seedot!" the little acorn calls as it hits the table and starts waddling around.

I don't spend too much time looking at it. Once again, it's cute, but I don't think I want it. Calling up the fourth and final pokéball, I cross my fingers and release it.

"Rufflet!" The eaglet pops out and immediately swoops down at me. I give a little yelp and duck, quickly turning around to see the pokémon land on a stack of papers and stare at me protectively.

Professor Redwood looks at me, a weird expression on his face, like he was trying to peer into my mind. "Well? Which ones do you want?"

It takes me absolutely no time at all to pick. "Rufflet and Snubbull," I say, not being able to contain a grin. I have waited too long for this to not be excited. The mareep would have been cool, but they are fairly common in Nocturna. I can catch one another time, and the seedot just wasn't very desirable.

Professor Redwood smiles at me, returning all four pokémon to their pokéballs and handing me the two I chose as well as a sleek black pokédex. "Good choices. Our predictions said you would choose those."

I wonder briefly how they predicted which pokémon I was going to choose, but it didn't worry me for very long.

Professor Redwood types something into the computer, and in no time the blond woman in the blue dress comes in the room and leads me down a different hallway. She swipes me into a chemical testing room, and unlocks a back door that opens up to a path that leads down to a waterway, where a gondola is tethered to the sidewalk. A new, but just as muscular gondolier is snoozing at the prow.

I take a step out into the sunlight and hear the heavy door slam shut behind me. Looking around, I see the orange-haired girl from before leaning against the wall. A dratini is slung around her neck like a scarf, and her hair is pulled back, revealing a pale, freckled face that compliments her outfit. She is fiddling with her new pokédex. I realize now where I've seen her before: school. I have never spoken to her, but I know that she is a pretty good battler.

I take a deep breath and start over toward her. Little did I know that our lives would soon be very tightly intertwined.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to read this! It means a lot to us, and we've worked really hard to make sure that you get the best story you can. If you would like more information on the story, make sure to head over to the Nocturna Wiki. It has all sorts of information on the world and characters, and it's updated frequently. The link is in our bio.**

 **The story will be written in four different perspectives, with me writing two and Malon writing two. For the first four chapters, however, the story will be two perspectives only.**

 **Also, please share this with your friends! It means a lot to us that you have read this, and since we've spent so much time on it, we'd love it for as many people to read it as possible! If you prefer to read the story on a different site, we also have the story up on Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, and Tumblr. The links for those will be available at the end of each chapter, starting with Chapter Two.**

 **Thanks so much, once again, for reading this story, and please leave a constructive review! It really helps us with our writing. :)**

 **Signing off,**

 **RareSnover (and Malon Garynite)**


	2. Malon's Awakening

The alarm goes off, and it's ten minutes until midnight. I stand up from my bed and shoulder my bag, moving over to the window. I slide the upper portion down and toss the makeshift rope of sheets out the window as I secured it to my bed post earlier.

I take one last look around my room. Really, this was all pointless. No one was home or would be for a few days. I could just walk out the front door. But there's something to be said for the dramatic effect of climbing out a window at the stroke of midnight.

My name is Malon, and this is my tale.

* * *

I'll never get over how gorgeous Hyrule is. My hometown is a shade of its former glory, as. It was once the second largest in the province and in the top ten for the region, but it's still nice. It's like a faded, run-down circus. Kakariko definitely has it's creepy, less than pleasant locations, though. Ghost types are common, even in broad daylight. But it's remained bustling, cheery, festive, colorful, sunny, and musical.

Since I'm in no rush, I stop by a few places. There's a 24 hour book and coffee shop that I get a simple frappe and a few books that seemed interesting. I also stop by the graveyard, which in all honesty is closer to being a park.

Once I finish my drink, I go to the monorail station. After paying for my ticket, which was much cheaper due to the unusual hour, I sit on one of the monorail seats and wait for it to take off, letting my mind wander.

I'll be free. No family, no parents, nothing holding me back, no one to tell me I'm over exaggerating. I groan a bit, not quite without my family.

The train announces, "We are now leaving Kakariko Village. You will be in Rivendell shortly."

I speed off, miles upon miles away from home, without a single regret.

* * *

"We have now arrived in Rivendell. Thank you for riding with us," the doors open to let the blazing sunlight consume the cabin.

I stand up and navigate the crowd, not looking up from the 3DS I had taken out during the short trip. People mutter if they're awake enough to talk at all.

I wander around the terminal to see if anywhere was open before stepping out into the brisk, 4 am air.

I find another 24 hour cafe not far from the station and sit in there, playing my 3DS to pass the time. By the time I look back up at the clock, it is half-past 6. I order a croissant breakfast sandwich and some tea, stumbling a bit over the English pronunciations, since my native language is Japanese. Luckily, the barista is far too tired to care and doesn't mention it. I make sure to tip her well and thank her as best I can before leaving at 7 to get to the lab for my 8 o'clock appointment for my starter.

I flag down a gondola to take me to the lab. It's nice weather with a bit of a breeze and clouds that smother the sunlight from time to time, making the water bob with energy as if in anticipation.

"Are you here for a starter, little lady?" The stout man pushing the gondola down the canal asks.

"Yes, my appointment is at 8," I nod.

He grins broadly, "You must be excited, that's the first time slot! Where are you from, if you don't mind me askin'."

"Hyrule," I answer, braiding a section of my coppery hair.

"You must have visited a a fair share of times, you seem right at home among the water ways," he chuckled.

I give a little smile, "Rivendell is truly a magical place."

We arrive at the gates and I tip the gondolier after tying off the small braid at my waist, "May lady luck smile upon you, little lady! And stay safe on your journey!"

I wave back until he's out of sight, then lean against a tree with my 3DS out. I become completely absorbed into the story and characters within seconds as I wait for my name to be called.

My eyes widen, and I let out my, quite appropriate for what just happened might I add, anguished outcry, and fall to the ground. In the process of all that I noticed that some poor guy had tried to approach me. His fault if he's startled. I hold my 3DS closer.

"Um, are you okay?" he asks, looking to see the screen.

I let out a small yell and quickly but gently close the device. "Don't you dare. . ." I shoved my head into hands and release another scream.

I decide to vent to this kid, since he's conveniently available, and I recognize him as Cole Escapade. "JUST GIVE HIM BACK HIS SOUL."

I swiftly open it back up, settle a few small things, close it yet again, and remove the cartridge.

That's enough emotions for today, thank you very much.

The speaker crackles to life. "Cassandra Garynite."

I pick up my things and head towards the gates which open upon my approach. I keep a spring in my step to distract from the shaky feeling in them. A woman greeted me in the entry way with a moneyed smile, and I did my best to send one back.

"Come right this way, Miss Cassandra," she opens her arm and herds me towards the door. "I know this probably feels a little unnecessary as you probably knew the lay out of the lab before it was built, but we must treat you like every other person who goes through the process."

I nod, still a bit irritated by her arm caging me at her side. It's not like I'm going anywhere.

Her heels clicking were the only sound for the brief moment of silence she spared, "My name is Macrone, it's truly a pleasure to guide starting trainers to their life-long partners. Almost everyone is overwhelmingly excited and happy with their choices, since here in Nocturna we do personality compatability simulations and tests. Still, many seem to be nervous."

I shrug, grinning as bright as I can, "I can't imagine why."

"I'm sure you have some idea, you're a smart girl, being Professor Redwood's baby sister," she stops and swings open a door.

"Oh, hey Malon, come on in," Redwood looked up from his computer.

I take a few steps into the cozy office, putting up a peace sign in response to his greeting.

"Alright, you know how this works, so let's get right to it," he pulls the three spheres out of his pocket and releases the creatures one at a time. "We've got dratini, chikorita, and drowzee as your choices."

This all seems a little plain for his taste, but I twist my lips into a smile, "Dratini, please!"

"So. . . Are you heading out alone or is someone joining you?" He asks.

I swallow even though my mouth has gone dry, "Not so far."

"Not Spencer?"

"Decided to go to tech school instead."

"Mom was okay with you traveling alone?"

Silence.

"I guess she counted on you picking up someone here, since you're so social and all. Anyway, here's your pokedex," he hands me a black electronic tablet folded into about the size of a wallet.

I shove it in my pocket and head out the back door, and hear a muffled goodbye once the door closes. I slide down against the wall, and release my new companion. I take out my pokedex to scan the creature. Female with a sassy nature and a love for fighting. I let out a puff of air from my nose as my lips curl upward. The deerling eyes that look up at me as she wraps herself in a comfortable bundle in my lap tell quite a different story.

A name, that's right. She needs a name. I gaze at the churning gray sky, stroking her smooth form.

"Levy." I decide, lowering my head to look at the pokemon, "That's your name now. Levy. Do you like it?"

The closed eyes and steady breathing of my serpentine dragon-type is a good enough answer as far as I'm concerned.

"Ms. Garynite!" The woman who led me around came as if from nowhere, holding a large, jet black egg. "We need you to hatch this for us. For research purposes. You don't need to report back to us unless you're in the area, or do anything special. Just watch over it."

I take it from her worn, but steady, slender hands, gazing at it. "I'll keep it safe, to the best of my ability."

"You're a Garynite, you could use the worst your ability and I would rest easy," she grinned. "Well, enjoy your journey!"

I heard her heels click off into silence. Levy slithered around my neck, as if some sort of scaly scarf and examined the egg in my pale, almost blue hands.

The back door opens up and a the boy with dishwater blond hair who was trying to see my 3RD earlier walks out with an some sort of air about him that almost irritates me. Scratch that, it definitely irritates me.

He spins around to look at me. There's a moment of silence.

"Your shoe laces are untied," he points.

I stare blankly, "Of all of the many ways I've tripped, my shoe laces have never played a role."

More silence. He cleared his throat, "My name is-"

"Cole Escapade," I nod, "Dead father and clingy mother, not to mention two older brothers who never looked back once they left. You're not planning on hanging around that dingy Camelot town either. You specialize in contests."

This whole silence after every time I say anything was really getting old.

"How do you know that? We've never talked," the way he says it as if my words were vegetables he had tried to wish out of existence struck a small nerve.

I look Cole in the eye, "What, like those were secrets?"

He scratches the back of his neck with the face of the person who ended up eating the unwanted vegetables, "You're Cassandra or something, right?"

"I prefer Malon."

"Anything to share?"

"Yes, you can travel with me, since that's what you're getting at. You seem competent," he looks back up. "Enough, anyway."

He doesn't seem to know how to respond, so he gives a stiff nod.

"Alright, mono rail at six. I have some things I want to do, but I don't really care what you do so long as you're at the station. See you at six," I flagged down a gondola.

"Destination?" This gondolier iss a broad shouldered, muscular woman in twenties with her sun bleached hair tucked under a baseball cap.

"Uh. . ." I lose my entire Venetian and English vocabulary for a second, "Tower. The one with the raffle thing." Hello, I'm screaming inside and want to go curl up in a hole. I could talk just fine and even maybe a little smooth (okay, closer to creepy. I'm aware that it was probably not the most comforting thing to have a stranger know that much about you, even if I didn't say everything I knew. Whoops I'm rambling) with Cole less than five minutes ago. Whaaaat the heck.

She laughed a deep, sunny laugh, "It's alright, love. The Pokézip tower?"

I just bob my head, feeling a burning feeling on my ears and bless my fortress that is my hair. Does anyone know how to set emotions on fire? 'Cause that's what I need to do right now.

It isn't that far, so she decides to save me from further word scrambling by whistling a little off key.

We arrive, and I fumble with cash to give her a good tip until Levy just gets it for her instead. She chuckles and bids me and my dratini good day.

I let out a huge gust of air and hang my head. Levy nuzzles me beneath my hair to inspire me to actually go inside the building. I move my hair a bit so it obscures my face and try to make myself as small as possible as enter the structure that was accurately referred to as a tower.

"Welcome to the Pokézip Tower!" A round woman at the receptionist desk greeted with a polite smile. "If you wish to play, go to the top floor, via the steps. If you wish to visit our various restaurants, cafes, and stores, those are all on the floors leading up to it. Would you like a map, or for me to arrange you a guide?"

"I'll take a map, please," I accepted the pamphlet she extended to me.

"The people in the blue vests will be happy to help you if you need anything!" She tapped the garment she wore.

I nod and head for the steps.

* * *

I take my time getting to the top floor. After all, I got here around 9:15 and I don't have to be anywhere until 6. I stop by an outdoors store to grab some things like spare emergency kits, a lighter, and anything else I feel like I might want. Better safe than sorry. I put them into my backpack.

My backpack is. . . Special. It looks like it belongs to a little kid because of its small size, but due to new technology that's still unreleased to the general public, it's practically bottomless and weightless. The only catch is fitting it through the zipper, and remembering where you shoved what.

After that, I checked the gaming stores for any sales or discount items. I ended up leaving with a game that someone who recognized me as the little sister of their inspiration for training. They wanted to battle me or take me out to eat, but upon my insistence that I just got my starter and wasn't hungry, they treated me to a used DS game called 'The World Ends With You.' I tried to talk them out if it, but. . . I'm certainly not complaining.

I pop in a few clothing stores, then go eat. I stay in a bookstore for three hours.

Then, at around 4:30, I finally arrive at the final floor and my reason to go here in the first place.

"Are you here to play?" a man in a blue vest greets.

I nod.

"Alright then, your number drawer will pick you up shortly. I apologize in advance if you end up with a kid around your age named Zane," he presses a button.

"Thank you," I push my hair from my face and straighten my posture.

I wait for a while, playing around with Levy as she weaves through my mane.

Without warning, a hand gently wraps around my wrist. I jerk back and Levy hisses. My eyes narrow and meet the person's in front of me.

"My name is Zane, your number caller. Pleased to be of service," he gives a lopsided smile that borders on smirking.

In this moment, I know three things. One, I have seen this person before and this is not the last time I'll see them despite not knowing them. Two, they know far more about me than I want them to. Three, I'm going to deck this guy at least once before I die.

"The quiet type? Adorable. Come along, right this way," he attempted to lead me by my elbow.

"I'm fine. Don't touch me. You don't need my name," I briskly stepped further away and followed him to his desk.

He laughed, "That's a little cold. How this works is that I generate random number sequences, and depending on how many numbers match the serial number of your pokedex, you win prizes ranging from a piece of chocolate to becoming a millionaire. Now, your pokedex, if you will?"

I pull the device from my pocket and hold it towards him with white knuckles.

"Relax, it's not like I'm going to steal it," at this point there is no question in my mind that is a smirk and I wanna punch it.

I release my death grip and he pops it open.

"Would you look at that," Zane whistled, "A _Garynite_."

I feel the color drain from my face.

"No surprise, really. I mean, look at that gorgeous, bountiful hair. Not to mention your almost white skin. But, I've never heard of you before. Cassandra? A beautiful name, but not fitting of the even more entertaining-"

I snap and slap a hand over his mouth, "Shut. Up."

He raises his hands in surrender but his eyes and the lips curving upward beneath my palm seem to be a more accurate sign.

Remembering that this is a stranger, regardless of how infuriating, and that I'm in public is likely the only reason I remove my hand.

Zane tries not to smile, "You're awfully familiar with keeping people quiet."

"Do your job and leave me alone," I huffed, stroking Levy who migrated to my lap.

"Can't do both, I'm afraid, Little Miss Garynite. Let's begin."

* * *

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but would you care for another try?" Zane bites back laughter.

"Shut. Up. And. Generate. The. Dam- Dang. Dang. Numbers." I hiss.

He collects himself, "Now, for your 274th try."

The world holds its breath and the computer made its jangling noises.

"Well, would you look at that."

I try to peer over his shoulder.

"You qualify for a 3rd place prize. Let's generate what it will be, and if you wouldn't mind," he clears his throat, "I think your fingers will become part of my shoulders if you don't. Lighten. Up."

I pull back my hands, mouthing his words mockingly behind him.

"It seems despite your youth you have plenty of maturity," you can practically _hear_ him smirking.

"You're not that much older, don't say youth like I'm eight," I check the screen again to see if a prize had shown up.

"Whatever you say, Little Miss Garynite," he hums.

"Don't-"

"Here we are," I almost fall on him trying to see, "Your prize."

My mouth goes dry.

"You've won a lovely afternoon of training with Champion Blaire Garynite."

* * *

I check the map on my phone again, following another back path.

"I can't believe I'm banned from the tower," I grumble.

Levy nudges my face with a little force as if to object.

"Okay, maybe it makes sense. But!" I pause, remembering seeing Zane's dumb, smirking face one second and feeling it under my fist the next. It was all a blur, if I'm being honest. "Never mind. I overreacted a bit, I guess. Okay but, I understand why I'm in trouble for picking up the desk a smashing it, but that snarky a-hole had it coming."

Levy sighs and lets it go.

I then come across the slumped, unconscious lump of flesh called Cole Escapade.

* * *

 **Hey, it's me, the writer of this chapter! Yep, I go by Malon Garynite just like one of the mcs; I actually made my user name from her name. I appreciate that you read both the first and second chapters! This is a project I'm really excited about and have been thinking about for a few years, so I'm stoked that it's getting out there! You guys are in for a real treat.**

 **Until a later chapter,**

 **-M. G.**


	3. I Resent Basically Everything

I squint and shield my eyes from the sun, trying to make out the street names that flash on the electronic signs that line the waterway.

"Destination?" My gondolier leans on his pole, sighing impatiently.

I flop down on the seat and bite my lip. "Just take me to a good café I guess."

The gondolier smiles thinly and immediately pushes off from the sidewalk, weaving through the light water traffic. The canals aren't very crowded at this time of the day, since everyone is eating lunch. Give it thirty minutes or an hour, and the canals will be crawling again.

The boat glides to a stop in front of the Nuit Café. The man leans on his pole again. "This is the best café in all of Rivendell. I eat here every day."

I eye the front of the restaurant suspiciously. The sign is welded out of nondescript metal, with the c in café curved to look like a crescent moon.

It'll do, I guess. It looks a little greasy, but they're probably all like that.

I tip the gondolier and step onto the clean cobblestone. At first glance through the glass walls that separate the café from the street, there are only one or two people in the restaurant. Well that's a plus. I don't really feel like being around crowds of people at the moment.

A waitress greets me immediately and quickly asks me, "will you be expecting to meet anyone else?"

"No, just me."

She hesitates for the slightest second and then nods and leads me to an empty table next to the window. I'm looking at the menu when another man comes into the café. He is wearing a suit with a deep gray tie and he looks nervous. The waitress swoops down upon him. "Hello, will you be expecting to meet anyone else?"

The man nods. "Yes, but I'll be dining alone today."

The waitress beams. "Splendid. Right this way please, sir."

She leads him to the back of the restaurant and through a thin curtain hung in a doorframe. They are gone for only a second, and then the waitress reappears.

"Is that the group seating room?" I ask the girl as she comes back to take my order.

Her brow contracts for a second, then expands quickly. "Yup! It's for parties of seven or more."

I tilt my head. "But that man said he was eating alone."

I'm not sure why I'm so interested in it, but I have a funny feeling about what just happened. It didn't seem...right.

The waitresses smile fades. "May I take your order?" she asks, obviously avoiding the question.

I lean forward. "So is the man expecting anyone?"

The waitress' smiles morphs into a sneer. "If you are not going to order, _sir_ , then I will have to ask you to leave. Tables are for paying customers only.

I lean back, deciding to let the matter rest for now. "I'll have a Persim Berry Stew and some water."

The girl smiles mockingly. "How pleasant." She turns on her heel and walks behind the counter, types the order into the machine and then busies herself on her phone. The two other people in the restaurant shot me glances in what I'm sure they thought was a surreptitious way.

The food takes a long time to come. It feels like it's been at least an hour since I ordered, and the two other diners had long since gone, leaving me as the only other person in the restaurant.

I glance outside. The sun is just above the Poke-ZIP tower a few blocks over. At least I have time.

The door to the back kitchen finally swings open, but the waitress doesn't have any food with her. Instead, two men with gray outfits and gray masks over their faces walk behind her.

I stand, foreboding slamming into me like a truck.

"Is there a problem?"

The waitress just nods at me.

The men leap forward impossibly fast and much too agile for their size and strike me on the head.

I crumple into darkness, and the last thing I hear is, "Alert the Caïd that Subject Three has been found."

* * *

I wake up on a cold, hard surface. I try to move my head, but the pain is too bad.

"Am I gonna have to deal with this frequently?"

I groan because I realize that Malon is the one that made me come to. She is standing over me, waiting for my answer.

I feel a prick on my arm and the pain in my head subsides enough that I can sit up and look around.

I'm lying behind a set of metal chairs and a table with an umbrella outside the Nuit Café. Malon is kneeling next to me holding a syringe in one hand and a ticket stub clutched tightly in the other.

"What on earth just happened?"

She smiles grimly. "I was going to ask you the same thing. I called you about ten times and then I tracked you using your phone's GPS signal. The Mono-Rail leaves in fifteen minutes. Can you at least get on the train? We can deal with your injuries better once we're on."

I glance at her syringe. "Where'd you get that?"

She blushes and quickly stuffs the syringe into her bag. "It's an endorphin stimulator. It's just for..." she trails off. "Never mind, we need to get you on the Mono-Rail. Can you stand up?"

I nod. "It's just my head and arms that hurt."

"Well get up then."

I stand slowly, groaning at my sore arms. "I love your sympathetic attitude."

Malon doesn't respond, and she doesn't help me along either. Her dratini is slung around her neck, and she's still holding a ticket stub in her left hand.

"So...how did the...Poke-ZIP tower go?" I ask through clenched teeth, trying to distract myself from the migraine forming in my head. The endorphin stimulation has worn off; it must have been a quick dose that only lasts for a minute or two.

Malon adjusts her clench on the ticket stub and clears her throat. "Fine."

Her stiff jaw and terse demeanor tell me otherwise, but I don't push. She's already dealt with me enough, what with wasting an endorphin shot on me, and having to track me down through the massive canals of Rivendell.

The Mono-Rail station is in the center of the Transportation District, which borders the Food District, where the Nuit Café is situated. We (meaning Malon because I'm too debilitated to think at the moment) decide that hailing down a gondola and loading me in, then convincing the gondolier to take us to the station and not the hospital, then unloading me and paying for the boat would be more of a hassle and take more time than just walking there ourselves.

Funny, seeing as I can hardly stand and she isn't helping me walk at all. I'm second guessing my decision to travel with her when we enter the station and I find out that she won't let me pay for my ticket (which prices at about ¥15,000 for a trans-provincial ticket). She pays for it all out of her pocket, then pushes me on board as the doors close behind us.

Miraculously, we find an empty compartment and I slump across one side of the seats, groaning in pain.

Malon lays her bag down on the floor and sits on the edge of the seat across from me, surveying me with a reproachful eye. "You look absolutely horrible."

I manage to open one eye and glare at her. "I appreciate the information. Let me just get up and care."

Malon ignores me and flips open her 3DS. I moan in pain and manage to fall asleep.

* * *

I'm jolted awake when I'm tossed off the seat and land face-first on the ground. Groaning, I rub my nose and sit up, my headache gone, but my bones still aching.

"What happened?!" I exclaim, looking around. The lights in the compartment are dimmed. The Mono-Rail is completely stopped, and I can hear people's confused exclamations coming from the compartments around us. I looked up at Malon, who was clutching her bag tightly with one hand and stroking a ruffled Dratini who was still draped over her neck.

"The train stopped," she answered.

I rolled my eyes and clambered back onto my seat. "Thanks for your commentary," I muttered. "Real helpful."

She observed me as I settled back down into the seat. There were a few awkward moments were she seemed to be analyzing me with her eyes, studying me. And not in an inappropriate way, but more of how a scientist observes a test subject. It unnerved me, but before I could say something about it, she leaned forward and tilted the top of her bag toward me.

Pulling open the drawstring at the top, she let me peer inside.

"What is that?!" I asked, astonished at the pulsing black egg that lay still in the bag.

Malon drew the drawstrings together again and leaned back. "It's an egg."

I sighed and leaned back against the cushion. "What would we do without our Queen Obvious over here?! We would be so lost without her!"

Malon shot me a withering look. "...which I was _going_ to say before you interrupted me, was a gift I got from Professor Redwood with my starter. His aid told me to take care of it."

I stopped rubbing my head. "Huh. That's weird. He let me pick two starters instead of one. I wonder if they do something special with everyone so that they all feel important when none of them are."

Malon shrugged. "I don't think so."

I decided not to delve any deeper into that.

Changing the subject, I looked back at the egg and around at the train. "So why is that egg glowing? Does it have to do with the stopped train?"

She pursed her lips. "Yes."

Okay, if these short answers are all I'm going to get throughout this whole journey, it was going to get old _real_ quick. I lean forward.

"Here's the deal missy. I just got attacked, and I'm honestly not sure who attacked me or what they did to me, much less why they did it. Professor Redwood gives you a mystery egg and me an extra starter. Now, the Mono-Rail's emergency brakes activate for no apparent reason and your mysterious egg is glowing. There's a whole host of weird things that I want to know the answers to, and your two word replies are not helping either of us. Can we try to be a little more lucrative with our words here, for the benefit of both of us? Please and thank you."

I lean back and wince as pain shoots through my body. I'll have to do a full body evaluation once I'm off the train to see exactly what they did to me.

Malon glares at me, but nods. I decide that if she really agrees with me then she'll be the one who speaks first, so I don't say anything and sure enough, she starts explaining.

"There's a...person that I met in the Poké-ZIP tower. He was the one who drew my numbers for me. He took a liking to me, and followed me onto the Mono-Rail." She shifts uncomfortably in her seat.

"Do you know him from somewhere else?" I ask.

She shakes her head emphatically, and I believe her.

"No. I just met him today. Anyway, he came into our compartment and we got in a little argument."

Knowing Malon (which I honestly don't), I'm not surprised at this.

"He tried to make a move on me, and I pushed him away, and then the egg started to glow and the train stopped. That's all I know."

I goggle at her. "He tried to...?" I trail off.

She notices my shocked expression and waves her hands quickly. "No, no, not like that. He just tried to...kiss me." She forces the words out of her mouth as if they're acid.

I stifle a laugh, trying to picture a complete stranger trying to kiss Malon.

"So where is this mysterious stranger?" I ask, trying I divert the conversation before I find something humorous again.

"He left when you tumbled off the seat. I think it scared him. At least you haven't been a complete nuisance today," Malon remarks snidely.

I ignore the last comment. "So he's still on the train?"

She nods. "Unless some fairy pokémon has poofed him away, yes."

I roll my eyes. "Okay, so is that all you know? What type of egg is that?" I ask, looking at her bag again.

She shrugs, drawing her bag close to her again. "I don't know what pokémon it will hatch into, but I know it's either a psychic or ghost type."

I raise my eyebrows. "And how do you know that?"

"Look at the train. Obviously the egg's glow is what stopped the Mono-Rail, and if there's any two types of pokémon who could do that, it's psychic or ghost." She says this as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"Obviously," I muttered. "Okay, so how do we make it stop?"

She shrugs.

I stand up. "Okay, well if you're not going to try to solve this, I'm going to call up one of my friends whose pretty tech savvy and see if she knows anything."

I'm exiting the compartment when Malon calls after me. "You know we're not the only ones on the train, right?"

I turn around. "Of course I know that. What does it matter?"

She smirks. "Don't you think that the engineers who are in charge of the Mono-Rail in the first place would be a little more capable of figuring out how to fix it then you are? Plus, I think you're overlooking an obvious solution."

I sigh and flop back down on the seat. She has a point about the engineers thing, but I'm not about to let her know that. "Okay, so what am I missing?"

Malon opens the drawstrings on her bag again and pulls the egg out. "If the glowing egg is what made the train stop, then we have to make it stop glowing."

Maybe it's the way she's holding the egg, or the aftereffects of me being thrown off the seat or beaten up in a café, but for some reason I think that she's about to smash the egg on the ground.

"No!" I yell, and dive down beneath her feet with my arms outstretched.

Unfortunately, she was not planning on smashing the egg. The second I realize that, she kicks me away from her and gives me her most reproachful and disgusted look yet. "I wasn't going to drop it, you idiot."

I get up from the floor for the third time in just a couple of hours and dust myself off.

"Well then, how do you propose we stop the glow?" I ask, embarrassed and avoiding her glaring eyes.

"I think I have an idea, but we'll need to go to the battling car first," she says, standing up and shouldering her bag.

I frown. "Why."

She shoots a withering look at me over her shoulder. "Sorry that you have to get up and walk someplace."

I am going to retort that ordinarily I would have no problem with walking, and that it was the fact that my everything hurt, but she slides the door closed before I can. I sigh. Something tells me this isn't going to work out.

* * *

The battling car is toward the back of the train. It is surprisingly not very full. Two trainers are goofing off in the ring, not actually battling, and three or four people sit on the sidelines, some watching the ring and some buried in their own little world.

Malon is sitting on the sidelines, chatting animatedly with a blond girl with a laptop. I walk over to them and sit down.

Malon turns to me. "Cole, this is Mia. She's going to be your partner. She's very nice, is a native Galapagoan, and is a receptionist/technician for the Polias Power Plant in Galapagos. Don't kill her or anything."

She stands and immediately intercepts a boy with swoopy black hair who has just walked in. Right off the bat she looks like she is trying very hard not to punch him, so I assume that it is this the stranger she met at the Poké-ZIP tower.

The girl, Mia, clears her throat softly. I turn back to her. "Oh, um, hello." I really don't like meeting new people.

She smiles brightly. "Hello! I guess your name's Cole?"

I nod. "Yeah. Hey, um, do you know what she meant when she said we were going to be partners?"

Mia looks at me blankly for a moment. "You mean she didn't tell you?"

I shake my head, my RBF settling into perfect position. "She doesn't tell me much of anything."

Mia looks taken aback for a moment, then seems to recover. "Oh. Well, she asked me if I would like to battle with one of her friends in a double battle against her and someone else she knew. I said yes, and then you came over."

I sigh and bury my face in my hands. Of course. How very typical. Malon signs us up for our first battle with our new pokémon and it's a double battle with two probably already very advanced trainers that we don't even know. Malon and I have both been trained in battling at school, but it was always with pokémon that the school provided. This is our first time using our own pokémon.

I look at Mia. "I'm sorry that she's dragging you into this, and that she found out so much about you in such a short time. I'm afraid she's pretty much always like this."

"Escapade! Get your fat butt over here!" Malon screeches at me across the room.

I sigh and take Mia's hand as she helps me up. "It's fine," she says, "I like battling. Besides, meeting new people is always fun, and I don't have any friends on the train. Maybe this will be a good opportunity to make some!"

"Thanks," I mumble and trudge along behind her. I do so ever love this idea.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a wrap on the third chapter! Thanks for reading guys, it means a lot. Be sure to check out our profile too for links to this story on other sites, as well as a link to the Nocturna Wiki we set-up for behind the scenes info and lots more! And of course, remember to follow and favorite, and please drop a review! They're very VERY appreciated! :)**

 **This chapter pulls the four main characters into a room together, and yes, spoiler alert, they are the four main characters of the story. There is SO much ahead for you guys, I can't for Malon and I to tell it all. It's gonna be a lot of fun.**

 **Just so you all know, since all the main characters have been introduced, we will now be switching chapters in a four way POV. That means that starting this chapter, the POV rotation will go Cole, Malon, Mia, Zane, then back to Cole, etc. Just so you guys don't get confused when Mia pops up in two chapters. :)**

 **Thanks again everyone!**

 **-RareSnover**


	4. Do You Carry Limp Bodies Often?

**Malon's POV**

 _It's for the greater good,_ I reassure myself. _It's only for a single battle, then we'll go our separate_ _ways._

"Lost in your own little world, hm?" The object of my scorn smirks. "It's unusual to ask someone to be your partner and then act like they don't exist."

"Well, Zane," I grit my teeth, "You aren't making it easy to get along with."

The tall, dark, and infuriating kind-of stranger laughs, "I don't see how I'm doing anything wrong, my dear, but I'll take your word for it. Are those two our opponents?" He gestures at Cole and the blond girl about the former's height crossing to the other side of the marked battling area of the car.

"Yes."

"Are you going to introduce me?"

"Nope. Waste of time. Besides, it's not like you need to know them," I grumble.

"Are you really that upset about the Pokézip Tower?" He clears his throat from little bursts of chuckling.

"Well, not really- why are you laughing?" I narrow my eyes.

He coughs a few times, "Well, darling, my face begs to differ on you supposedly not being upset," he points to the side of his face.

I roll my eyes, "It's not that bad."

He scoffs dramatically and leans over so I can see his face more clearly, "Look, there, that's a bruise!"

I try to hide a small swell of pride as I see the slight discoloration, "You're fine, it's barely there."

"I beg to differ, Little Miss-"

"Are we going to battle or what?" Cole calls over impatiently.

"Alright, we each send out one, and no substitutions?" I respond.

"Sounds good," the blond girl, Mia, replies.

I hold out my arm and crouch to let Levy onto the battlefield. "I'll be having her battle, in case that changes who you choose."

"I could have guessed, with you being a new trainer and all," Zane smirks.

"Well you'd only have a 50 percent chance of being right," I shrug.

His brow furrows, but smooths back out, "Well, you are a Garynite so it's not too surprising you'd get an extra boost."

I sharply inhale, "Excuse you?"

He shakes his head and releases a munna, "Here's my partner, Columbine."

I grumble a bit to myself regarding places he could return to before refocusing on the battle about to start. Mia is using a magnemite while Cole is chose his snubbull. I bite my lip. "Zane?"

"I'll take care of the snubbull since it's a fairy type," he nods.

"Ready over there?" Mia asks.

"Of course, beautiful," Zane beams in response.

I bite back laughter when I see the blonde cringe, "We'll start on three. One, two. . . Three!"

* * *

"This is your fault," I grumble.

"As I said, Little Miss Garynite," I hiss at Zane's nickname for me, "I am a _coordinator_. Not to criticize you, but it's difficult to win with someone when they're yelling at you."

I roll my eyes, "Whatever. We were working together just fine until you fell on top of me, Mr. Famous Coordinator."

" _I was dodging a missed attack,_ " he insists, putting his hands up in the air. "And for your information, I have won plenty of ribbons."

"Yeah, in Sinnoh."

He crosses his arms and looks away, pouting.

"Okay, so what the heck was all of that for anyway? Not that I'm really complaining since we won but," Cole butts in.

I blink, having just realized that my opponents had crossed over to our side of the field.

"Hello? Are you going to answer? Who is that guy anyway?" He waves a hand in front of my face.

"Well, Cole, I figured it would be good to get some training in with our starters. And it doesn't matter who that is," I reply.

Zane scoffs.

"Oh, I get it," Cole begins to grin, "This is the guy you mentioned earlier."

"You mentioned me? I'm flattered. Good things, I hope," Zane smugly smiles.

"Nope. Nope, we are not discussing this. Nope. No we are not," I insist.

Cole had a full smile at this point, "You're the creepy guy who tried to kiss Malon that she was so mad about!"

Zane sputters and I feel a strong desire to melt. Mia has an eyebrow raised.

"This is a misunderstanding," Zane assures.

"What on earth possessed you to think _that_ was a good idea? Have you even talked to her for three seconds? Or seen her? Does she look like she would be up for that, or does she only ever look like she would be down with setting everything on fire around me?" he rambles.

"Okay first of all, I never tried to kiss her," Zane begins.

"That's debatable," I scowl.

"Malon, I already told you, I was trying to take something out of your hair," he sighs.

I roll my eyes.

"Your hair was trying to absorb it or something, so it kept shifting," he persists. "But then he fell and since I hadn't noticed him in there since he was so still, I thought he was dead or something."

"You thought I had a dead body across from me on the monorail?" I ask with raised eyebrows, "Why would you-"

"Malon, you may have forgotten, but not long after I met you, you broke my desk and bruised my face."

"So you thought I _killed someone_ ," I make eye contact with the taller person.

". . . Well, maybe just hiding the body for someone else. . . But you're not that far off, no," he sheepishly admits.

"I can't believe you," I shake my head.

"You don't exactly make the best first impressions," Cole agrees.

"If that's the case," I point at the dishwater blond, "Why did you want to travel with me," I turn my focus to Zane, "And why did you follow me from the tower?"

"As much as I'd love to hear the rest of this conversation that deserves proper context, we are attracting a fair bit of attention. Let's go back to the passenger car," Mia speaks up.

"Of course," I force a smile, and follow the glasses wearing blonde. I check to see if the egg is still glowing and sigh. Looks like my plan to get along with Zane ended up doing absolutely nothing. Levy squirms a bit around my neck, and I pat her head reassuringly. I'll figure something out.

We're still tense as we leave the battle car, and I try to think of a new way for me to get along with Zane, thus reactivating the monorail. The quickest way to resolve things is probably good, old fashioned talking out our issues. Like I'm about to start that up.

"Hello? Anyone home?" A voice sounds.

"Hm? Oh, you." I look to see Zane.

"You did pretty well out there," he offers up.

"What?"

He chuckles, "You did a good job battling. Considering your pokemon is only level 15 and you just got her today, I'm guessing that you're a battle specialist."

"Oh," I nod. "I specialized in battling and took some coordinating classes at the Fallis Specialty School."

"Is that where you and the guy who I thought you killed met?" he checks.

"His name is Cole, and sort of. We never talked or really saw each other." I continue, "I knew he was in the top ten in our class for coordinating, but we just met officially at the lab today."

"Where were you in coordinating? Out of your class," Zane asks.

"Meh," I wave it off, "I don't care about ratings. I'm a much better battler anyway. I don't have the delicacy or patience for contests."

"So you were low in the rankings."

"I never said that. Besides, it's not like it matters. Grades and scores don't mean much outside of school. Look at you, a coordinator featured in all sorts of magazines and interviews and specials, and you never went to some school for it." I gesture.

"On another subject, how did you not know who I was? You went for a pretty well known school for coordinating, so they probably broke down some contest performances for instruction, right?" he changes subjects.

"Because, Zane, I never paid that much attention to the person standing on the side. I did recognize you, I just didn't know from where," I defend.

We enter the passenger car, and I take a seat next to Mia.

"Alright, proper introductions are in order. I am Mia Soranto, from Galapagos, " she extends a hand and we all take turns shaking it.

"Zane, coordinator extrodinair," I roll my eyes at his introduction.

Cole coughs, "I'm Cole, from Camelot. I got my starter today."

"Malon, " I state, dratini yawning by my ear, "My starter is Levy."

"How about we all say a little more about ourselves? Perhaps why we're on this train? I'll go first, I'm here on my way to a contest, and to find three people to compete with me for Hyrule style contests." Zane supplies.

I snort, "Didn't you have a job in Rivendell? What made you decide to leave?"

He gives me a grin, "Because I had met one person who was sure to lead me to other, equally as interesting, people."

"AHEM," Cole clears his throat, "Malon and I are on a journey and none of us have agreed to work with you."

I smile and lean back, maybe my traveling associate isn't too bad.

"I'm here for research," Mia adjusts her glasses.

"How about we play a game?" I suggest after a small pause. "We have time, especially since the train isn't working."

"What kind of game?" Cole asks.

I shrug, "I dunno, a card game? I had a deck earlier," I frown, checking my pockets.

"You must have dropped them in the battle car," Mia remarks.

"Alright, I'll go get them. You guys can stay here or leave or whatever, I don't really care," I stand up, Levy making small, disdained noises at the sudden movement.

"I'll accompany you," Zane offers.

"I need to go to the bathroom anyway so I'll come along for a bit," Cole adds.

Mia pauses for a second, "I'll stay here and watch our things. If you're not back in fifteen minutes I will come find you."

I nod at her and the three of us head out.

"If I remember right, the bathroom is just a bit before the battle car," Cole recollects.

The taller boy cocks his head, "Sounds about right."

"You should check to see if we're still looking after you're done," I advise. "The cards are blue, in case anyone sees them in the hall."

The dishwater-blond nods. "Try not to kill him while I'm gone, Malon."

"I can't make any promises," I grumble as he makes a left for the restroom.

"So," Zane starts, "How come the two of you are traveling together?"

"We met after getting our starters and agreed to go on a journey, it's not that hard to understand," I quip as Levy falls fully asleep around my neck.

"I got that much, little Miss Garynite," I grimace, "But it strikes me as strange that neither of you had anyone to travel with already. Supposing either of you actually wanted a companion at all, that is."

"What's so strange about it? We'll get to know each other sooner or later, and if things don't work out we'll just go our separate ways," I push the button for the doors to the battle car to open.

"It's just odd that. . . well. . ." he trails off as the door remains close.

I narrow my eyes and attempt to press the button again, followed by trying to pry the door open with my fingertips. Nothing.

"Don't you have anybody you'd rather be going with? Someone you're close to?" he finally get to the point.

I freeze.

"A friend, a cousin, a classmate, anyone? It doesn't seem like you would want to travel with anyone, but I doubt you agreed out of pity," he speculates, "You don't seem like the kind of person who reaches out to others either."

I feel my pulse as a dull throb throughout my body. I take a deep breath in time with Levy's sleeping ones. In, two, three. Hold, two three. Out, two three.

"Ah. I think I understand."

As my head turns slowly, my eyes fix on a glowing, red sign above tightly sealed doors. I see the window showing the outside with cold, biting winds flecked with ice. The outside with dark skies, freckled with stars. An idea sparks.

"You don't have anyone, do you? Who would have thought that a _Garynite-"_

I turn back towards him. I back him into the wall, right beneath the luminous sign. I open my mouth, "You have no _idea._ "

In the next few moments, eight things happen.

The first thing that happens is that I open the emergency exit. The second thing is that I hear Cole approaching. The third is that I shoulder check Zane in the ribs. The fourth is Zane grabbing my wrists as he begins to fall. The fifth is me trying to grab onto the edge of the door way but instead grabbing a very confused Cole by the ankle. The sixth is all three of us falling. The seventh is us realizing the way down was longer than we thought. The eighth is the alarm blaring throughout the monorail.

We land in a tangled heap. Levy slithered into my shirt as we fell, now a little bundle resting on my ribcage.

"I leave you two alone, for maybe _three minutes,_ " Cole hisses, removing his leg from my face.

I sit up slowly, allowing the serpentine creature to glide back up around my neck. "I was trying to grab the ledge, not your leg."

" _You pushed me off a train_ ," Zane states dumbly.

"You didn't try to kiss her again, did you?" Cole narrows his eyes, "Arceus, you're an idiot."

"I never tried to kiss her in the first place!" he protests.

"I just don't understand why I got yanked-"

"It seems I was correct to assume it was you three when the alarm went off," the outline of Mia's head perks out from above.

"Malon's fault," Cole grumbles.

"Is there any way for you all to get back up?" she ignores his statement.

Since Zane is the tallest, he attempts to jump and catch the ledge. "Nope. Unless you can pull me up, and then the other two can jump just as high."

Cole mumbles something about not wanting to be outside in the first place.

"Why don't we try getting on his shoulders?" I ask. "I'm not sure about Cole, but seeing as I weigh around 90 pounds, unless he's super weak it should work."

"Umm, well, you see. . ." Zane scratches his head and shivers some in the snow.

"Oh my gosh. Zane, _I_ can have someone who's more than that on my shoulders for a bit, you'll be fine." I roll my eyes.

"Unless you've forgotten," Zane clears his throat, "You also destroyed my metal and plywood desk without a sweat. I don't think you're a good standard. Besides, that still wouldn't get Cole back up there."

Mia calls down, "Wait there for a bit, I'll be back."

We wait in the frigid air, Zane rubbing his arms, hunching over, and Cole hugging himself. Determined not to be bothered by the temperature, I simply stand, braiding and unbraiding my hair.

The alarm goes silent, and soon enough, Mia reappears.

"Move out of the way," she instructs.

We shuffle back through the snow as bags plop down where we were standing. Once the last bag falls, she swings over and lands gracefully next to the pile.

"Since there's no way to continue by train, we will travel by foot." She plucks her glasses from her pocket and puts them back in place.

I shoulder my bags a few seconds before the two boys follow along, and once we're all standing in a circle with our things, we discuss our plans.

"Find a cave or some other shelter. Don't split up. Start a fire in said shelter. We will stay the night there, and when we wake up, we make our descent from this mountain," Mia commands.

"Yes ma'am," I salute, pulling out a pocket flashlight to see a bit better. "Does this direction work for everyone?"

Nobody says otherwise, so I trudge ahead. After we've made less than ten yards of distance between us and the monorail, the emergency exit slides shut, and the train starts back up.

"Are you _kidding_ me," I deadpan and Levy gives a sleepy hiss.

"If you guys could have calmed down for just ten minutes, we could be on our way to the Lost woods right now, but no," Cole huffs.

I check the egg to see if it's still pulsing and sigh. How long is this thing going to cause me trouble?

Cole notices, "So until it stops glowing is it safe to assume that things will get screwed over?"

"That's how it looks," I nod. "Honestly, I'm surprised the monorail started back up. Maybe it only has a small sphere of influence it can affect?"

"Is that an egg?" Mia joins in. "I've never seen an egg quite like that, much less one that glows. Is it always like this?"

"I just got it this morning, and it started glowing when Zane entered my car on the monorail. I honestly have no idea what it is, and I doubt I'll find out until it hatches," I explain.

"How did you get it?" Zane pipes up.

"Professor Redwood. I doubt he'll give me any information. Part of me doubts he has any. It's probably an experiment of some sort," I add.

There's a pause before Mia speaks, "Whatever that egg is, it must be incredibly powerful to render a monorail incapable while in this form."

We all nod in silence.

I put the egg back in its bag, and proceed to shove it up my shirt. "Gotta keep it warm if we ever want to find out what's so special about it. Won't get any answers if it dies."

"Wait, where are we even going?" Cole asks.

I turn and look him in the eyes, "You mean you don't know?"

He shakes his head, "No, you never told me."

I sigh and turn back around, "We were supposed to be going to the Lost Woods in Hyrule, which you would have known if you had been paying any sort of attention. But we're sort of in luck, the woods aren't far out of these mountains. It shouldn't take too long to get there, if we make good time."

Cole looks around, "I just now realized we're in the mountains."

I sigh and ignore the poor boy. I suppose I'll have to get used to his utter ignorance.

"I'm going to walk a bit ahead. Malon, would you mind joining me?" Mia invites me, chewing a bit of her lip.

"Of course," I speed up to match her pace, which is admittedly difficult, seeing as her legs are quite a bit longer and that I have an egg stuffed up my shirt.

Once we are out of the other two's ear shot, she talks. "I do not think your brother is quite so ignorant about this item. He must at least have some idea of how much influence it has."

"I don't know why you called the professor my brother, but I agree. He didn't get this well known for slacking off. There's a lot more to this than he's authorized to tell a trainer who just got their starter," I nod.

"He trusts you, Malon."

"What are you talking about?" I furrow my brow.

"Malon," she sighs, "I know that you're Cassandra Garynite. I know Redwood is your brother. He trusts you, his little sister, to crack the secret behind this egg, something which for whatever reason he cannot do. He believes in you."

I stiffen, "Whatever. He can do it just fine, he just has too much else to do. Besides, it's probably some sort of trick or dud anyway."

"Malon, I can't pretend to know why you're trying so hard to distance yourself from your family-"

I interrupt. "Then leave it that way."

She pauses. "So I take it Cole doesn't know?"

"I haven't told him, but he might have figured out as much."

"And Zane?"

"Not by my choice, but yes," I grumble.

"I won't tell Cole," Mia offers, "But you have to tell him sometime."

"He'll figure out eventually, he can't be that dense," I push my hair back behind my ear.

"True, but. . . I can't claim to know him, but he doesn't seem the type of person to take finding out something like that from a third party well."

I hesitate, "I guess you have a point."

Silence settles between us. Before either of us has the opportunity to break it, we feel vibrations slither beneath our feet, going back towards my other two newfound companions.

"What was that?" I mutter, turning the direction it went.

A seviper bursts through the snow, right beneath Cole's feet. Zane pushes Cole back. The seviper lunges in slow motion as I witness it hook a fang on Zane's side. Then, as quick as it appeared, it burrows back beneath the ground, leaving someone getting back to their feet and someone who is still.

Too still.

I try to get there fast, but considering the egg shoved up my shirt, Mia arrives at the scene long before I do. She kneels in the snow and examines Zane with a creased brow while Cole just stands silently in shock.

"Wild sevipers don't live in mountains, much less ones this cold or with this much altitude," I muse to myself.

"He's fine, right?" Cole fidgets and plays with his hands, coughing a few times.

Mia blinks, "Depends on your definition. He is alive, but he is also losing blood, and possibly has toxins in his bloodstream. It's not fatal, but it's far from a scrape. We need to find some sort of shelter. I know Malon has a med-kit, but we need to get him somewhere relatively warm and dry. I believe he has passed out from the initial pain, therefore-"

"I can carry him," I offer. "Just give me a second to secure the egg."

"Malon, are you sure? I mean, he is more on the thinner side, but he's probably a full foot taller than you. How is that going to work?" Cole asks.

I let out a puff of air and watch it turn into a white haze, "I'll make it work."

"I don't think this is a-"

"I'll make it work," I repeat. I take off my backpack and fit the egg past the zipper, and wear it over my chest. I crouch down by Zane and give his face a small poke. No reaction. "I'll need a little help to get him on my back, but past that, I'll be set to carry him. Also, shouldn't we at least wrap something around it even if it's just until we get to a better place to bandage it?"

I look up to see Cole with wide eyes and Mia with tight lips. There's a slight hesitation before Mia nods. I return the gesture and dig back through my bag, finding an old, worn jacket. I tie it snug around his middle, trying to ignore how fascinating it was to see his scarlet, rapidly cooling blood seep through white snow. Mia and Cole help to get Zane in a balanced position on my back.

"Lead the way," I state.

Mia attempts to use a partially functional map on her phone to navigate us to a cave that should be about half a mile away while Cole hangs back with me. The only sound for a minute or two is the wind whipping around us, until Cole speaks up.

"Um, you're doing a good job of carrying him, do you carry limp bodies often?" There's a pause. "That is not how I wanted to say that."

I laugh, "Oh no, that's a perfect way of saying it. After all, he did think you could have been a dead body I carried on to the monorail, remember?"

"Oh, uh, I guess you have a point," he scratches his neck. "But he'll be fine, right?"

"In a lot of pain, but probably," I agree. "I didn't take much of a look at it, although it doesn't seem extreme enough to pass out immediately like that. It's more shallow than I thought, he's even bonier than he looks so there isn't much to dig into."

"Oh."

A moment of quiet.

I clear my throat, "I can't say for sure what you're thinking, but if it's something about how he pushed you out of the way, don't sit on it too long. Yes, it could have been you, but it wasn't, and he made sure of that. There's nothing anyone can do now, and there's no reason to think of what could have been done. Just be glad it wasn't you, and move on. Since he put himself in a position to get hurt, he won't get mad at you, or at least has no right to. In fact, he'll probably be happy to know you're fine and impressed if you can keep a clear head."

"In that case he'd certainly be impressed by you and Mia," Cole bites.

I blink. "Well excuse me for having organized priorities."

"I didn't mean to say it-"

"Too late. You already did." I cut off.

An uncomfortable quiet settles while I get a better grip.

"Is the egg still glowing?" Cole checks.

"I can't really keep track at the moment," I snip, "But come to think of it, I don't think it was when I put it in my bag."

"That's weird," he remarks.

"Yep," I pop the 'p' sound.

He sighs, "This was not what I was expecting my first day of my journey to be like."

I take a deep breath and slowly nod.

"I thought it would end in a warm pokecenter room, and that I'd be sleeping by now," he grumbles.

"I didn't think I'd be giving an unconscious person a piggy back ride, but here I am," I agree. "On the bright side, I love my starter."

"You two bonded really fast," he gestures to Levy curled around my neck. "Is she young?"

"She's level fifteen, just like all the other starters, so she can't be too young. Considering the life span of dragon types though, she probably is at a lower maturity than most starters," I explain.

"The cave is just up ahead," Mia calls.

"Got it," I reply.

Cole coughs, "Isn't it unusual to get a dragon type as a starter?"

"Well there aren't as many of them as well as they take longer to grow and strengthen, so they're not exactly starter material," I elaborate.

"But you got one?"

"Clearly. I guess the testing just said that it would suit me. Besides, you can't talk about weird starters, you got _two_ of them," I point out.

We step into the mouth of a dark cave.

"I'll make a fire. Malon?" Mia asks.

"Hm?" I look up at the blonde, the light from her phone reflecting onto her face.

"Do you happen to have the tools for one in that prototype?" she checks.

"Yeah," I nod, "but first I need somewhere dry to put this one down."

She takes a sleeping bag from the things she was carrying and unrolls it on the cave floor. She helps get him off my back in the gentlest way possible, and I begin rummaging through my prototype bottomless bag. The egg is indeed not glowing any more, which hopefully means we'll find some peace for the night. I pull out matches, newspapers, twigs, and some thin logs from the bag.

Cole gapes, "Why do you even- how-"

"I like being prepared," I feel a bit of red rise in my face.

Mia takes the materials and gets to work while I go back into my bag for a med-kit. By the time I get it out, the cave has a soft, warm glow from the fire Mia starts.

"Alright, who's going to check the damage?" I look around to see Cole a bit pale and Mia in thought.

"Cole has had a long day," Mia notes, "So it would have to be one of us, Malon."

"I'll do it then," I volunteer. "I have no idea how to set up a camp or keep a fire alive, so you two can take care of that." I pull some canned foods from my bag, "Go ahead and heat these up if you're hungry."

"Thank you, Malon, you are. . ." Mia smiles softly, "Considerate. If you want any help, I am willing to assist."

I acknowledge her and turn back to the boy with my jacket tightly around his waist. I take a deep breath at seeing the once green fabric soaked crimson. I untie the jacket and slowly peel it off, the cloth sticky. I try not to get distracted by the metallic smell while I lift a corner of a torn shirt. The actual injury itself is obscured by the drying blood. I take some cleaning clothes from the kit and begin dabbing at the area. Getting impatient with how long it's taking, I take an old t-shirt from my bag, pour water on it, and start using that instead.

Once it's cleared up, I get a better idea of how bad it is. Luckily, it doesn't look like it will need stitches, nor does it look like there's any venom. In fact, it doesn't look too awful at all. It looks painful, sure, and he did lose more than a little blood, more than I would guess from the bite marks, but it doesn't seem so bad you'd pass out instantly. Collapse maybe, but not lose consciousness.

I shrug and use the antiseptic to clean it out, somewhat glad he didn't have to be awake to feel it. I coat it with some neosporin and tape large amounts of gauze pads as securely as I could. Messy, but better than nothing.

I turn, "Hey, are-" I notice Cole and Mia on opposite sides of the fire, curled up in blankets, sleeping. I dig out my own sleeping bag and set it up between the fire and Zane. I frown, and then pull Zane a closer to the fire, and move my own sleeping bag between the mouth of the cave and the fire instead. I check my phone for any alerts or messages, which as usual there are none of, before pulling out my 3DS.

"Where am I?" a voice croaks.

I snap my device shut and scoot over to Zane, "In a cave. On a mountain. Snowhead mountain, to be specific. You were pushed off a stationary monorail. You quit your job to-"

"I remember that much, Malon, but how on earth did I- oh," he realizes.

"Bitten by a seviper. Pain level?" I check.

"Out of ten? An eight or nine," he winces after trying to sit up.

"Yeah, terrible idea," I assure. "You passed out immediately."

"You don't sound too concerned."

"Gee, I wonder why," I turn my head and focus my on the dying fire.

He chuckles a bit, but it's weak. "Is Cole okay?"

"No worse than he was before we were stranded up here," I confirm.

"That's good." He pauses. "Malon?"

"Yes?"

"How did I get here if I passed out immediately?" He asks.

I hesitate, "We carried you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. It couldn't have been easy for you by yourself, with my dangly arms and legs."

I turn my head back to look at him, expecting to see, I don't know, a dumb smirk, but instead he has a frustratingly serious expression. "I said 'we' carried you. For all you know, I could have wanted to leave you out there."

"That's true. But," he grins sleepily, "you're still awake. Besides, you closed your 3DS immediately when you heard me, which has to count for something."

I glance away. "You're not that hard to carry, and you're definitely fine. After all, you have this made up idea that I care."

Zane laughs, "I doubt that it's all in my head, my dear. Still, thank you."

Silence settles as I get lost in the dying embers. I consider things for a moment.

"19th," I say.

"What?" he blinks.

"19th. You asked me my ranking in contests at school, and I was 19th," I repeat.

"And in battles?"

My voice catches in my throat and I close my mouth.

"I assume it's higher, since you said you were much better at it. Top ten?" He asks.

"It doesn't matter. I don't remember anyways," I draw my knees up to my chest.

"Aw, come on," he complains, "That's an obvious lie. Top five? Top three?"

"Just-"

"You were number one, weren't you, Little Miss Garynite? You don't want to say so because of Blair and you-"

"I think I like you better unconscious," I cut him off.

Zane clears his throat. "I don't mean mean anything by it when I call you that, you know?"

"I don't care. Good night," I move back to my sleeping bag, zip myself up, and wait for sleep to come.


End file.
